I wish I had the secondhand shopping gene. Maybe we only get a few special skills at birth and I used up my allotment with the ability to form nice sentences, an unlimited memory for song lyrics and an insatiable appetite for baked goods.
I was thinking about this today as I wandered through Winners. (I needed to get away from my desk, but I also needed to avoid places where they sell baked goods, because my "special skill" was demanding to be fed.) I saw that they now have women's ski pants for $49.95, which made me extra glad that my Costco membership-wielding friend had saved me a bundle of dough (mmmm...dough...) on my ski ensemble. But then I wondered if I should have gone to Goodwill or some other secondhand store and saved even more.
Truth be told, I'm not very good at navigating through those stores. I can't see the possibilities the way other people can. One of my oldest friends totally got the gene and is forever showing off some fabulous find for either her or her children. (Her son's awesome-and expensive looking-Halloween costume was one of her treasures. Priced at $10, she bought it on half-price day for $5. I didn't even know they had half-price days! Why don't the stores I shop at have half-price days?) She's also a wiz at getting stains out of anything and everything. I'm the person who stains something and donates it to the secondhand store!
Come to think of it, I also watched her bargain her ass off in an optical store at a mall. She chose frames that were priced at $450 and somehow talked them down to $400 including her lenses and with no tax! Maybe I need to ask her for some lessons...
I have the same lack of vision when it comes to "antiques." I'm using quotation marks around the word, because all I see when I look at "antiques" is old furniture. While I love to go to someones house and see an eclectic mix of interesting, old pieces, I'm doomed to live in my Billy Bookcase-lined rooms for lack of imagination.
What about you guys? Can you see the forest for the trees or are you imaginationally challenged like me?
Total debt: $2400 and a bit (Not for much longer...)
Spent today: $0
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3 comments:
When I was younger I could see the possibilities sometimes... However as you dear Tammy know, I am blessed with a, uhm, very generous chest... Somehow clothes in thrift stores almost never seemed to fit :(
That said I struggle with furniture - seeing the possibilities in old pieces. I suspect that part of the problem is that 'antique' stores tend to be so stuffed that it's overwhelming - that and my allergies act up and and I am petrified I will see mice!
However, I am trying to brave them again. A good friend who is a cabinetmaker insists that it's those stores where I will certainly get the best construction for furniture for the house - mass produced pieces tend to be cheaply made now. My friend will make some pieces for us but she doesn't do couches...
It is funny you mentioned 2nd hand. Last night as I was walking along my street I saw people rummaging through the furniture left out on the curb by a neighbor (garbage night)... I just can't bring myself to ever do that. Don't know if that makes me a snob but I just can't do it.
You should see the stuff my friend has rescued from the curb! Awesome, awesome things.
Perhaps we'll learn eventually!
I hear you with the Billy bookcases and other so-called "generic" items: I like Joe Fresh, which my (tall, skinny, I-can-wear-anything) sister calls "the IKEA of clothing".
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